In job coating industries many different parts with clearance holes have to be handled for coating as well as for different pre- or post treatment steps. It is known from JP04-000372A/Nippon to rotate carbide tools with a through-hole on a holding shaft during coating operations. From JP2000-141108/Hitachi it is known to provide throw away tips with a through hole to thread them on a wire with spacers between. The wire then being mounted on a jig to be rotated in a vacuum coating chamber.
Usually such inserts are packed onto a tray by a tool manufacturer and sent to a job coater where inserts are unpacked, transferred into a cleaning basket or directly on a rod, e.g. if the rod is used as mounting device for the cleaning as well as for the coating process. The rod is charged by picking up one spacer, threading it to a rod, then picking up the insert from the tray, other packaging devices or a cleaning basket and thread it onto the rod over the spacer. This process is repeated until the rod is full. The entire process is repeated until all inserts are successfully “rodded”. The time required to perform this task is approximately 1 hour for 500 inserts threaded on 50 rods.